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Why are you guys bashing the OP? Two years before moving to Atlanta, I made the same mistake. I came down to visit for a weekend, and I booked a hotel downtown (the big Hyatt on Peachtree) cause my NYC brain said that's where all the action is. I was shocked to see what a ghost town, downtown was. You guys using 3 am as a reference, I was shocked to wake up Monday morning and looking out the window to find Peachtree empty at 9 am. At the time I worked in the Wall Street area, so it was really weird that downtown ATL looked like the set from "I Am Legend" on a Monday morning. Now that I live here and understand the dynamics here, it makes sense to me now. As much as I love Atlanta, downtown will never be brought back to life due to the overall non-progressive attitude of the Metro area's residents. Living in NYC we used to joke about the "bridge and tunnel" folks, but that is exactly what Atlanta needs to breathe some life into it's downtown. We need some progressive suburban "bridge and tunnel" folks to invest and appreciate the value of cities, and not just look down on them. In the interim, please ease up on people just trying to share their opinion.
I dont have a problem with what you said,You made good points and I believe most of what you say happens.I just don't believe the OP is real or sincere.
Usually people know about this site and they ask questions before they come,not just after they have gotten back.Especially if you have kids.If this were Orlando or Miami.One of those has beaches and the other has theme parks.You know this before you even come.Atlanta is not as well known so typically people do more research before they come with kids to a major city.
Atlanta might make a decent place to raise a family because it is relatively cheap and the job market is good but there is nothing else special about Atlanta. There is nothing really unique about Atlanta as a tourist spot. If you are from some tiny town or within driving distance, Atlanta might make for an intresting stay for an occasional long weekend. If you are planning to spend your vacation days and hard earned money, goto NYC, DC, LA, SF, Orlando, etc!!
I would have suggested Buckhead I guess and you could walk to Lennox/Phipps
Staying in a Buckhead hotel and riding MARTA to the tourist destinations downtown during the day would have been an excellent option for someone with children.
People in Orlando do this all the time. They stay along International Drive, where there is plenty that you can walk to, and then either rent a car or use hotel shuttles to get to Disney during the day. In Atlanta you can do this just using public transportation, you don't even need to rent a car or rely on hotel shuttles.
Again, a few minutes of research would have presented this option. One of the main hotels on Peachtree in Buckhead and walking to Lenox/Phipps or one of the zillions of restaurants on Peachtree in Buckhead would have provided a completley different experience than wandering around downtown.
I lived in Atlanta for 12 years, originally from the Toronto area.As soon as I read the first post I thought -- ahh -- this person must be from Toronto or Montreal or even Ottawa.
Troll, or not -- it's kind of true.
You mean by the fact that most of the metro area of most canadian cities feel extremly safe compare to atlanta?
The reason the OP got bashed is because he made the same mistake you did.
For your particular example, you booked a hotel downtown simply because your NYC sensibilities said that's where all the action is. Well, that's ridiculous.
Consider Orlando. A great deal of action is around the theme parks. So let's say someone with Orlando sensibilities booked a trip to NYC and reserved a hotel next to Six Flags Great Adventure. Then that person complained that New York is overhyped and terrible.
Well, that would be that person's own fault, wouldn't it? Wouldn't he be to blame for blindly applying central Florida sensibilities to a trip to New York? I know SFGA is in New Jersey, but you undestand the point I'm making here.
In Atlanta, the difference isn't that great. All the OP had to do was conduct a little research. He wouldn't have had to move his hotel up to Alpharetta or down to Peachtree City, just up the street a mile or two and the experience would have been completely different. I agree that this information may not be as readily available to tourists as it should be, but with the internet, it really only takes a few minutes of research. One should never venture to a new city thinking "this is true in my hometown, therefore it will be true in the town I am visiting as well."
Maybe the people that tout Atlanta as a tourist destination need to be more clear about the situation. I don't know what the literature says, but I doubt it says, "There are plenty of hotels downtown, but if you want to walk the streets after dark, you'll be better off in one of midtown's hotels." Maybe it should say that, but you can't expect a tourism board that is trying to lure people downtown to be that honest. That's why we have Tripadvisor, City Data, etc.
I would not gloss over the fact that downtown needs a lot of work and as a city we have much to address. That fact, however, does not excuse the OP from his personal responsibility in not having a good experience. That is his own fault for failing to conduct proper research and relying on a set of assumptions that turned out to be incorrect.
So you're all going to blame the OP because downtown is dead when this is supposedly where the central part of the metropolitan area is? Logic holds this would be one of the most vibrant spots in the city along with Midtown. The problem with Midtown hotels is people would have to take MARTA or walk 2-3 miles to all of the attractions. Getting hotel in downtown is easier because it's just a 3 block walk to the Centennial attractions.
Common sense would tell you that any person would get a hotel closer to where many of the major attractions are. Duh. Who's going to want to go to the CNN center and Aquarium, but get a hotel in Buckhead when you can get a hotel in downtown and be much closer?
This sort of attitude of blaming it on tourists will never get Atlanta anywhere.
TonyGeorgia, maybe you can stay where I did with your family and tell me your thoughts. I wasnt looking for Mardi Gras at 3AM downtown but at least a decent stroll where I felt safe and could get a nice dinner with the family at 7PM.
That feeling of safety is very subjective, I think.
We live downtown with a kid, just a few blocks away from Ted's Montana Grill where you dined. We walk around downtown at night regularly, to restaurants and to the park, and feel fine about it.
But we're natives and also just city folks in general, so we're used to the landscape. You might look at the surroundings and the occasional homeless person or panhandler and have a much different reaction to it than we do.
For what it's worth, we've taken trips to downtown LA, lower Manhattan and Paris in the last few years and I can assure you that most all big cities have zones that are fairly empty at night, much like what you see areound Centennial Park. I'm not excusing it -- because I certainly wish it was more lively there with fewer 'super blocks' filled with parking decks and blank walls -- but you just have to expect that you'll run into that kind of situation in cities.
Here's what I've witnessed: the Gare de l'Est area in Paris is pretty empty at night compared to the rest of the city; downtown LA near Staples Center is almost identical to downtown Atlanta at night as far as empty sidewalks go; and downtown Manhattan around Wall Street isn't very lively at night after work hours. C'est la vie.
Not sure where the OP stayed at, the Hyatt or some other hotel near Centennial Park but really I think you weren't looking when it comes to restaurants within walking distance. If you were closer to CNN/Centennial Park, there are a lot of restaurants, especially inside CNN and on Marietta St that are within walking distance.
I work near the Hyatt and Ray's is across the street, which is a really good restaurant, right next to it is a steakhouse, on the corner is Fire of Brazil and Jalapeno Charlie's. On the same side of the street as the Hyatt is the tourist mecca of Planet Hollywood with their $20 burgers lol. There is also Hooters right across the street from them. Mama Ninfa's down the street, a new Mexican restaurant I can't remember the name of not far from Hooters. There are a lot of restaurants on Peachtree. And I will admit I am not all gung ho Atlanta and don't get defensive about Atlanta because I think the downtown area could use a lot of improvement, especially in regards to police presence like previous posters mentioned. But to say you didn't have a safe walk to a restaurant at 7pm shows me that you were not looking. No matter where you stay near Centennial Park, you will have a restaurant within 2 blocks. If you stay on Peachtree at the Hyatt, you will have a plethora restaurants to chose from and there are big bright signs for all of them on street level so I am inclined to believe Tony in that this was a troll post.
The problem with Midtown hotels is people would have to take MARTA or walk 2-3 miles to all of the attractions.
Boo hoo.
To use your favorite example, NYC, where would someone stay in Manhattan to walk 3 blocks to the attractions? Can someone go to NYC and not have to take MTS or walk 2-3 miles if they want to see the statue of liberty, empire state building, times square, central park, and the World Trade Center (whatever they are calling it now)? You can't go to any large city and expect that you can find a single location that is going to be a 5 minute walk from everything that you want to do and experience. So you just have to decide, am I going to travel to the tourist destinations, to the nightlife, to the restaurants, or to the cultural events, etc.
Yes, if you book a hotel simply becuase it is close to tourist attractions and then realize it isn't close to other things you came to the city to experience, it's your own fault.
To use your favorite example, NYC, where would someone stay in Manhattan to walk 3 blocks to the attractions? Can someone go to NYC and not have to take MTS or walk 2-3 miles if they want to see the statue of liberty, empire state building, times square, central park, and the World Trade Center (whatever they are calling it now)? You can't go to any large city and expect that you can find a single location that is going to be a 5 minute walk from everything that you want to do and experience. So you just have to decide, am I going to travel to the tourist destinations, to the nightlife, to the restaurants, or to the cultural events, etc.
Yes, if you book a hotel simply becuase it is close to tourist attractions and then realize it isn't close to other things you came to the city to experience, it's your own fault.
Maybe this person wouldn't have had complaints if the city was as vibrant as NYC? The difference between the two is that you can enjoy the walk between attractions and feel more safe because there are more people and more storefront activity.
What storefront activity is there between most of the Peachtree Center hotels and centennial park? It's just solid walls and not many people walk it. Most people would not enjoy the walk. I certainly did not...it's boring, dark, and just feels unsafe overall.
Walking from a Chelsea hotel to Times Square, one can expect more people walking and more storefronts so most people would naturally feel more safe and the walk would be more interesting.
This goes back to what I said about Atlanta. It's not a very walkable city.
Our family from Canada spent this years getaway (every year we try a different major city) in Atlanta and stayed near Centennial Park this past August. I must say I was very disappointed in the city. First of all heading out anytime after 7PM was pathetic with empty streets and sketchy folks everywhere. Restaurants were closed and shops shuttered. I picked downtown hoping a car was not necessary and we could enjoy just walking around but that was a bad idea. Ended up renting a vehicle and spent most of our time outside downtown.
.
sorry about your experience but there is some bs involved. You could have done research before staying there. downtown Atlanta is not all that, but there are many other spots to stay in the city. It's one thing to sleep in a hotel there but to expect so much from downtown is silly. Midtown, Buckhead, etc is where you would wanna stay and you can still go wherever you want. It might be because you didn't know but that's were research comes into play. There are many cities in the US which have not much to offer in downtown. Go to Cincinnati, Detroit or Cleveland and then you would actually boast about downtown Atlanta. I will admit that downtown has much work to do but you should have researched before doing something like that. That's with anything in life and not just downtown Atlanta.
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